Michael Cera finally proves he can play more than just a stuttering, insecure teen. Well… OK, so he plays a stuttering, insecure teen once again in this film, but he ALSO plays a suave French bully with the most wicked mustache ever. Want an edgy, intellectual, and in many ways inappropriate comedy? Then Youth in Revolt is for you.
Based on C.D. Payne’s series of books with the same name, Youth in Revolt (now on DVD and available for rental at redbox) is the story of Nick Twisp (Michael Cera), a before-his-time sixteen-year-old who finally finds something worth living for in Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). Sheeni is bright and rebellious and dreams of traveling the world, which is why it’s hard to believe she hails from a trailer park Nick visits with his mom (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis) during summer break. Nick can’t bear the thought of being apart from Sheeni once he returns home, so he creates an alter-ego, François Dillinger, to help him wreak the havoc necessary to reunite with his dream girl and prove he can be every bit the international man of mystery and intrigue she’s so desperately seeking.
In a somewhat fantastical and often dark-hearted movie like this one, the key is having a cast skilled enough to make you believe that they believe what is going on. Thankfully, Youth in Revolt has that cast — apart from those already mentioned, other supporting players like Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Fred Willard, Steve Buscemi, and newcomer Adhir Kaylan really shine. Their characters are all going to either help Nick/François rebel, or stand in his way. And when something stands in François’ way, he tends to blow it up or otherwise destroy it. While smoking a cigarette and wearing white pants and aviator shades.
Brimming with enough snobby cultural references to make your head spin (I’ll admit, the great majority were lost on me), Nick’s tale is always smart — even when it’s stupid. No coming-of-age story is complete without at least one character plotting how to lose his or her virginity, so you can expect a fair dose of sexual humor right alongside conversations about Jean-Paul Belmondo movies and Serge Gainsbourg records. Even if you don’t know what Nick and Sheeni are talking about 20% of the time, it doesn’t matter — the point is that you’ll immediately understand why our antihero becomes infatuated with her as soon as she opens her mouth. As Sheeni, Doubleday was nothing short of excellent, so I hope she’ll get higher profile gigs in the future.
The only issues I had with Youth in Revolt were its uneven pacing and the somewhat randomly inserted animated segments that director Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) probably should’ve left on the cutting room floor. I’m assuming they were meant to be shout-outs to the books, but for me, they didn’t work. That being said, I’m still thinking about the film several days after having seen it, and that’s always a good sign. Or maybe I just really liked François’ ‘stache.
Posted on June 18, 2010 at 10:07 pm
I just watched this (from redbox) and I loved it. It was very funny and had a great story. I recommend it. It was pretty much the typical Cera character, but he got to play his naughty alter-ego too. Fun movie.
Posted on June 19, 2010 at 8:42 pm
This movie wasn’t as great as it was portrayed to be. I thought it was rather boring.